Implementation Grant: Coaching for Academic and Professional Success (CAPS) in STEM

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The implementation project entitled - Coaching for Academic and Professional Success in STEM - builds on a planning grant and has the goals to reinvigorate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at the Virginia Union University and significantly increase the number of graduates that compete successfully for admission into graduate programs and/or the STEM workforce. The main objectives of this project are to increase recruitment, retention, and graduation rates in all STEM disciplines by at least 50% within the next five years while maintaining the academic rigor that is required for student success after graduation. Three strategic initiatives are designed to meet the objectives: (1) the establishment of a STEM Summer Institute that improves the preparedness of rising freshmen for college; (2) the implementation of high-impact educational practices across the STEM curricula, and (3) the establishment of a STEM Coaching Team. While the strategies implemented in this project will improve STEM education at Virginia Union University, it is anticipated that they will be equally effective at other small liberal arts institutions and that this project can serve as a national model. The project emphasizes the importance of close relationships between undergraduate STEM programs, high schools, graduate institutions, and employers of STEM graduates, and, consequently, will enhance the mission of each of these partners.